Chapter Five: Platform Zero

The first train arrived full of Shen Yaos—children, old men, reporters, each holding a camera. A schoolboy version stepped out. Tang pressed Shen's face against her shoulder. “Deleted possibilities,” she whispered. “If he recognizes you, you must finish his life.” The second train had no driver. Its announcement demanded a destination. Tang wrote WAITING ROOM on their ticket and fed it into the gate upside down. Unable to find the reversed station, the train jammed between places. Its doors opened onto an archive hall. Forty-three glass booths formed a circle. The erased livestreamers sat inside, repeatedly watching their disappearances. Each viewing cost them a memory.